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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891624">Cuts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWSD/pseuds/TWSD'>TWSD</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Self-Harm, Short One Shot, depressed Hilda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:09:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,305</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TWSD/pseuds/TWSD</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s fine! I got this! I don’t need your help, remember? You can just sit back while I do the work.” Hilda clutches her bleeding stomach. “You just bring the pastries tomorrow.” She fakes a confident face.</p><p>“You- You can’t do everything for me Hilda, and you especially can’t take care of that injury yourself, I… I can-”</p><p>“Marianne! It’s fiiiine. Really. Really really.” Hilda assures her double. She had to do this. She had to stay strong for her. She couldn’t be a failure in her eyes too.</p><p>“It really isn’t. You’re bleeding Hilda.” She tries to convince her again.</p><p>“It’s just a little blood! No big deal!” She lies. It was a big deal, if she saw it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Cuts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“It’s okay.” Marianne mumbles, shying away onto a crate that may have had one too many nails poking out to be considered a seat.</p><p> </p><p>“Don't worry, I've got this!” Hilda giggles, picking up the bale of hay that was supposed to be stacked against the wall 30 minutes ago. That’s okay though, Hilda could always do it for Marianne. She’d do anything for Marianne.</p><p> </p><p>“Next time I can do it, I’m good with this stuff.” Marianne mumbles and closes her eyes as if she is bracing for impact against the words spoken at her next. Is that what she thought Hilda would do? Hurt her? Goddess, why did she like <em> Marianne </em>, of all people? She could have chose anyone else, someone dumb, or as useless as her. Marianne didn’t deserve her, she deserved better.</p><p> </p><p>But she could do this, at least, right? Something for her. Marianne didn’t judge her, or tell her she was lazy, or berate her for not doing enough. Even if she <em> wasn’t </em> enough. God forbid anyone see Hilda lifting anything, anyone besides her. She had to do something for her. She wasn’t useless, <em> right? </em> “I’m not gonna let that happen, I can do it.~” <em> Right? </em></p><p> </p><p>Well, she could have before the bale landed on her stomach and knocked the wind out of her. Why did she do that last night, why did she feel so emotional over-</p><p> </p><p>Marianne!</p><p> </p><p>“H-Hilda! You’re bleeding!” Oh. She couldn’t do this, could she? She can’t even do chores right. She deserved so much more than what she was.</p><p> </p><p>Hilda backs up though when Marianne tries to help, her hand pushing at air where she had tried to lift a shirt. “Um, please let me help, you look injured.” Marianne pleads. Goddess, every word out of her mouth sounded so divine.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s fine! I got this! I don’t need your help, remember? You can just sit back while I do the work.” Hilda clutches her bleeding stomach. “You just bring the pastries tomorrow.” She fakes a confident face.</p><p> </p><p>“You- You can’t do everything for me Hilda, and you especially can’t take care of that injury yourself, I… I can-”</p><p> </p><p>She backs off again, into a pole. Nowhere to run and hide this time. Can’t ever hide the fact that you’re just a failure. “Marianne! It’s fiiiine. Really. Really really.” Hilda assures her double. She had to do this. She had to stay strong for her. She couldn’t be a failure in her eyes too.</p><p> </p><p>“It really isn’t. You’re bleeding Hilda.” She tries to convince her again.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s just a little blood! No big deal!” She lies. It was a big deal, if she saw it.</p><p> </p><p>“It could be, you don’t know that, what if one of your o-organs got crushed or something.” She panics.</p><p> </p><p>“Come on Marianne, if one of my organs got crushed, do you think I could still stand up?”</p><p> </p><p>“Um…”</p><p> </p><p>Hilda took the opportunity to snake her back off of the pillar. Free at last. Free to walk away and just. “Be a coward?” She hissed at herself in the back of her head. She couldn’t give up, not on Marianne. “Just tell her the hay scratched you. Don’t tell her how weak you really are.”</p><p> </p><p>“Still, you can’t just take care of that on your own. It’ll only take a second to patch up, I swear…”</p><p> </p><p>But Hilda had to stay resilient. For Marianne.</p><p>“Of course I can! Like I said it’s not a big deal. You don’t have to fix it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes I do.”</p><p> </p><p>“Marianne. It’s. Not. A. Big. Deal.” Hilda asserts in that oh so authoritative tone she used when telling adventurous boys that she’d snitch to Holst.</p><p> </p><p>“It. Is.” Marianne huffs back. “You can’t take all of this on at once.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course I can! Don’t worry your pretty little face okay? Just sit back and let Hilda do the work!” She says with a faux pride, putting a hand back on the mess she had made in the first place.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re doing too much work, I-I didn’t ask you to do this. I can take care of it myself, I always do.” Marianne confesseses, and catches her off guard. She does all of this by <em> herself? </em></p><p>She doesn’t need you Hilda.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, I-I can do it too!” Hilda almost chokes on words in her panic.</p><p> </p><p>“But you don’t have to!” She whines. “It’s- It’s just too much…”</p><p> </p><p>Did she mean Hilda was too much?</p><p> </p><p>“Come on Marianne! Let me do this for you okay~”</p><p> </p><p>“Please Hilda, I can tell you’re overworked, so, just relax and let me-”</p><p> </p><p>“Marianne! Y- You don’t need to do anything! I won’t let you-”</p><p> </p><p>“<b>Let me fix your cuts!</b>” Marianne explodes with a sternness that shocks both girls. And all that was left in the barn between the two was just a long silence, not even broken by a horse or creaky plank or anything. Just silence.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“I-I- Hilda I’m sorry I-”</p><p> </p><p>“Marianne.” She almost starts tearing up, before sitting down on the hay bale. Just let her fix it, Hilda. And she does. Marianne lifts her dress up and works her literal magic, sealing the cuts with not even a scar left. She had gotten so skilled since they had first met. So <em> strong </em>. Not like her at all.</p><p> </p><p>“Why?”</p><p> </p><p>“H-huh? <em> Why? </em>” Marianne puzzles, looking down at the girl who’s volume had dropped since their time here.</p><p> </p><p>“Why do you care so much. I couldn’t even lift hay bales right.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course you couldn’t.” Marianne shakes her head. “Not while you’re trying to do my medical work, and my chores, and my cleaning, and preparing for the next fights.”</p><p> </p><p>“...” Hilda sniffles, not wanting to look up. She couldn’t bear to see her disappointment.</p><p> </p><p>“You’ve got so much going on, and sometimes when you carry so much, it can break you.” Marianne gives a pout before rolling her sleeve up. Revealing <em> her </em> cuts, what’s left of them.</p><p> </p><p>“Marianne-”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry Hilda, it’s been 5 years since that day.” She testified. “But for you…”</p><p> </p><p>“Last night.” Hilda sniffles again, letting tears carry mascara and eyeliner down her cheeks. “Oh you poor thing.” Marianne coos before sitting down beside her, and holding her. In that moment Hilda felt her whole self come down, she could let it all out. She was safe here, with Marianne. “It’s been so hard!” She started Bawling.</p><p> </p><p>“Shhh. Shhh. It’s okay. I know, you don’t have to bear it alone.” Marianne hugs her while the other girl cries it out. “You are so, so, strong.”</p><p> </p><p>And Hilda bawls some more, a little less. She doesn’t believe that, not when Claude tells her it, not when she tells it to herself in the washroom dozens of times over, but when Marianne says it it sounds a thousand times more true than ever.</p><p> </p><p>“Not strong enough.” She whimpers, but Marianne shakes her head.</p><p> </p><p>“You’re still here. You’re still alive, that takes a lot of strength Hilda.”</p><p> </p><p>And she believes it. Marianne is still here too. She’s so much stronger.</p><p> </p><p> “I’m here for you, I love you. We all are, we all do.” Marianne comforts the crying mess of Hilda. “You’re enough. You always have been. I promise you.”</p><p> </p><p>And Hilda felt like retorting something, like “I always fail though!” or “that’s not true!” But, it didn’t feel that way in Marianne’s arms. Oh Marianne~</p><p> </p><p>Hilda rubs her face into Marianne’s chest. “I-I love you, Marianne…” She blows her nose, coming down from her dried out tears.</p><p> </p><p>“I know.” Marianne giggles, pecking Hilda’s forehead with her lips.</p><p> </p><p>“H-how?” Hilda blushes, sitting up a bit.</p><p> </p><p>“Because like I said, I’m here for you, always have and will be...and I love you.” She confesses before giving her a peck on the cheek.</p><p> </p><p>“M-Marianne?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes Hilda?”</p><p> </p><p>“Can I get another kiss?” Hilda smiles, <em> a real smile. </em></p><p> </p>
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